'mL, 


Document  No.  3. 

MWEBsilV  t?F  1U.WIS* 


NewYork  Association  for  the  Protection 
of  American  Industry, 


EFFECT  OF  FREE  TRADE 


ON 


THE  LABORING  CLASSES 


IN 


ENGLAND,  TURKEY  AND  EGYPT. 


BY 

CYRUS  HAMLIN,  LL.D, 

President  of  Middlebury  College , Vt. 


Published  for  Distribution  by  the  Association. 


New  York  Association  for  the  Protection 
of  American  Industry 

Effect  of  Free  Trade  on  the  Laboring  Classes 


IN 


ENGLAND,  TURKEY  AND  EGYPT 

BY 

PRESIDENT  HAMLIN  OF  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE,  VT. 

Published  for  Distribution  by  the  Association. 

Organized  under  Act  of  1875  Chap.  267. 


OBJECTS  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION  : 


1.  To  disseminate  ideas  favorable  to  just  protection  of  manufactures. 

2.  The  development,  protection,  and  advancement  of  the  various  industries  of  the  United 

States. 

3.  The  restoration  and  development  of  ocean  navigation  in  American-built  ships  sufficient 

for  the  exigencies  of  trade,  commerce,  and  manufactures,  and  for  the  advantage  and 
safety  of  the  country. 

4.  The  security  of  the  comfort  and  improvement  of  workmen,  and — by  encouraging  allow- 

ances or  pensions  after  long-continued  service  in  important  establishments— of  their 
support  in  old  age. 


MANAGERS  : 


ULYSSES  S.  GRANT, 

LE  GRAND  B.  CANNON, 
EDWARD  H.  AMMIDOWN, 
BENJAMIN  G.  CLARKE, 
SOLON  HUMPHREYS, 
GEORGE  B.  BUTLER, 
CHARLES  S.  SMITH, 
CHARLES  L.  TIFFANY, 
WILLIAM  L.  STRONG, 
JAMES  A.  BURDEN, 


FREDERIC  A.  POTTS, 
CORNELIUS  N.  BLISS, 
ALFRED  R.  WHITNEY, 
DANIEL  F.  APPLETON, 
JOHN  ROACH, 

WILLIAM  A.  GELLATLY, 
WILLIAM  A.  A.  CARSEY, 
SELIG  S.  FISHER, 

LEVI  L.  BROWN, 
DEXTER  A.  HAWKINS. 


Address  on  business  GEO.  B.  BUTLER,  Secretary,  44  E.  26th  St.,  N.  Y.  City. 


NEW  YORK  ASSOCIATION  FOR  THE  PROTECTION 
OF  AMERICAN  INDUSTRY. 


DISASTROUS  EFFECT  OF  “ FREE  TRADE”  IN 
ENGLAND,  TURKEY,  EGYPT,  ETC.,  ON  THE 
LABORING  CLASSES. 

BY  PRESIDENT  HAMLIN, 

Middlebury  College,  Vt. 

[Reprinted  from  the  Agricultural  Review  and  Journal  of  the  American  Ag- 
ricultural Association  of  November,  1882  (J.  H.  Reed,  editor  and  publisher, 
33  Park  Row,  N.  Y.),  with  additions  since  made.] 

In  the  Journal  of  the  American  Agricultural  Association 
for  July  and  October,  1881,  is  an  article  by  Prof.  Arthur  L. 
Perry  on  “ Farmers  and  the  Tariff,”  which  seems  to  de- 
serve examination  and  a reply  through  the  columns  of  the 
magazine  which  gave  it  first  to  the  public. 

Prof.  Perry  seems  to  write  under  considerable  excite- 
ment. He  regards  Protectionists  as  “ shrewd  ” and  sel- 
fish men,  who  carry  the  measures  by  “ lobbying”  and 
“ log-rolling” — “unscrupulous  ones,”  “ mendicants.”  They 
“cajole”  and  “swindle”  the  farmers,  “ Gallileans,”  etc., 
etc.  The  farmer  is  “ the  ass  that  bears  most  of  the  bur- 
dens and  eats  least  of  the  hay.”  It  may  perhaps  be  sug- 
gested, without  offence,  that  this  is  hardly  a model  style 
for  a public  scientific  teacher  to  use  when  addressing  men 
who,  while  possessed  of  great  practical  wisdom  and  dis- 
cernment, are  accustomed  to  look  up  to  scientific  men  for 
models  of  manner,  and  who  do  not  relish  being  compared 
to  asses. 


4 


As  to  argument,  it  is  for  the  most  part  a repetition 
and  working  over  of  the  statements  and  principles  by 
which  the  Cobden  Club  in  England  has  most  industri- 
ously and  perse veringly  labored  to  incite  our  farmers 
against  the  Government  and  our  manufactures.  During 
the  last  twelve  or  fifteen  years  it  has  expended  vast  sums 
upon  this  object,  with  very  poor  returns  thus  far.  This 
celebrated  Club  seems  further  than  ever  from  attaining  its 
desired  end,  which  is  to  break  down  the  protective  sys- 
tem of  the  United  States.  If  the  end  were  attained,  it 
would  probably  be  as  disastrous  to  us  as  beneficial  to 
England.  In  England  it  would  benefit  only  a cer- 
tain class — the  great  capitalists — for  whom  the  United 
States  were  not  created.  For  Free  Trade  in  Great 
Britain  has  not  been  the  universal  boon  which  its. 
advocates  proclaim.  To  prove  this  we  need  not  go  be- 
yond the  testimony  of  the  most  ardent  and  the  ablest 
Free  Traders  themselves.  We  admit  that  the  wealth  of 
England  has  increased  with  enormous  strides.  Colossal 
fortunes  have  been  built  up  in  very  large  numbers.  To  a 
class  of  millionaires  who  carry  out  with  amazing  ability 
the  motto  , of  the  Cobden  Club,  to  “ buy  cheap  and  sell 
dear,”  Free  Trade  is  the  thing.  It  enables  them,  as  we 
shall  show,  in  some  markets  to  buy  and  to  sell  at  their 
own  prices.  This  is  to  them  a very  comfortable  state  of 
things,  and  no  wonder  they  are  willing  to  spend  money 
freely  in  other  lands  in  advocacy  of  their  principles.  But 
all  this  success  of  the  great  capitalists  does  not  constitute 
true  national  prosperity.  It  does  not  necessarily  make  a 
contented  people.  It  does  not  diminish  pauperism.  In 
England  the  laboring  classes,  manufacturing  and  agricul- 
tural, are  no  better  off  than  they  were  fifty  or  one  hun- 
dred years  ago.  On  the  contrary,  the  difference  between 
them  and  the  rich  is  greater  than  ever.  If  Free  Trade 
has  been  a blessing  to  England,  her  millions  of  laborers 
have  no  share  in  it.  They  have  made  no  progress.  The 
wonderful  inventions  of  the  age,  the  better  modes  of  liv- 
ing, the  higher  enjoyments  of  life,  pass  them  by  in  the 


5 


sweat  and  grime  of  their  ill-requited  toil;  and  if  hope 
ever  comes  to  them  at  all,  it  is  the  immortal  hope  of  an- 
other life. 

In  proof  of  this  assertion  that  Free  Trade  has  in  no 
respect  benefited  the  laborers  of  England  on  the  farm  or 
in  the  workshop,  I quote  from  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished advocates  of  Free  Trade  in  England — Henry 
Fawcett,  M.P.,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge. 

In  his  “ Political  Economy,”  extensively  used  as  a text- 
book in  this  country  and  in  England  (page  133),  after  re- 
ferring to  the  prodigious  increase  of  British  exports,  he 
adds  : “ This  increase  of  national  prosperity  has,  as  yet, 
effected  no  corresponding  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  the  laboring  classes.”  He  then  goes  on  to  state  that 
where  there  has  been  an  increase  of  wages  there  has  been 
a proportionate  increase  in  the  cost  of  living,  so  that  one 
barely  compensates  for  the  other.  He  then  refers  to  Mr. 
Brassey,  who  is  another  distinguished  Free  Trader.  His 
book  on  “Work  and  Wages”  Prof.  Fawcett  endorses  as 
of  the  highest  authority,  as  perfectly  accurate,  as  evincing 
the  most  careful  investigation.  The  following  are  some 
of  the  results  : 

“ In  the  Canada  Engineering  Works  at  Birkenhead 
thirteen  different  classes  of  workmen  are  employed,  such 
as  fitters,  turners,  coppersmiths,  etc.  Of  these  thirteen 
classes,  six  were  receiving  less  wages  in  1869  than  in  1854, 
three  were  receiving  the  same,  and  four  were  receiving 
somewhat  higher  wages.”  In  the  Government  Dockyard 
at  Sheerness  the  result  was  even  less  favorable.  From 
1849  t°  1 8 59  these  classes  had  an  advance  of  sixpence  a 
day,  but  from  1859  to  1869  no  advance  whatever.  “ Wages 
were  absolutely  stationary  throughout  these  years”  (p.  134.) 

Twenty  classes  of  laborers  in  private  shipyards  on  the 
Thames  showed  the  same  wages  in  1869  as  in  1851.  There 
was  a temporary  rise  in  ’65,  but  dearly  purchased  by  the 
distress  that  followed. 

Mr.  Brassey  thinks  the  building  trades  are  somewhat 


6 


better  paid,  but  “ the  increase  in  wages  has  not  been  pro- 
portioned to  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  living.” 

Prof.  Fawcett  confesses  that  “ in  other  trades  the  con- 
dition  of  the  laborer  must  have  deteriorated.”  But  even  in 
the  very  best-paid  trades  it  must  also  have  deteriorated, 
according  to  his  own  showing. 

It  is  a point  of  interest,  and  essential  to  a right  judg- 
ment upon  Free  Trade  in  England,  to  know  how  great 
has  been  the  increase  in  the  expense  of  living  during  these 
years  of  its  greatest  development.  Prof.  Fawcett  (p.  134) 
considers  it  not  less  than  thirty  per  cent ! The  best-paid 
laborers,  who  are  comparatively  few,  have  hardly  held 
their  own.  What,  then,  is  the  condition  of  the  multitude? 
What  has  Free  Trade  bestowed  upon  the  English  laborer 
in  general,  on  the  farm  and  in  the  workshop?  Why,  it  is 
thirty  per  cent  of  loss ! It  is  the  same  as  a decrease  of 
wages  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  almost  one  third. 
His  condition,  never  very  hopeful,  is  now  hopeless.  This, 
O England,  is  the  demonstration  of  the  blessings  of  Free 
Trade  to  thy  laboring  classes  which  thou  art  presenting 
to  the  world  ! Thy  hard-laboring  millions  can  live  while 
muscles  are  strong  and  lithe ; but  when  old  age  or  disease 
comes,  then  the  poorhouse  and  the  pauper’s  grave ! 

Has  there  been  any  improvement  since  the  date  of 
Prof.  Fawcett’s  work  (Macmillan,  1876)?  None  what- 
ever in  wages.  In  the  condition  of  the  operatives,  tem- 
perance, co-operation,  and  post-office  savings-banks  have 
made  a favorable  change  to  some  extent.  We  earnestly 
commend  the  consideration  of  these  means  to  all  working, 
men.  But  wages  are  as  low  as  ever. 

Mr.  Porter,  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune 
(Jan.  24,  1883),  shows  that  even  in  the  great  and  magnifi- 
cent machine-shops  on  the  Clyde,  where  we  shall  find 
the  highest  wages  England  gives,  skilled  labor  is  only 
$6.25  to  $7.00  the  week,  and  unskilled  labor  is  not  half 
that  sum. 

In  Dumbarton,  where  labor  was  exceptionally  high,  it 
was  15  to  18  shillings  a week — 62^  to  75  cents  a day. 


7 

Shall  we  reduce  our  artisans  in  our  best  machine-shops  to 
this  rate  ? 

Let  us  not  be  in  too  hot  haste  for  Free  Trade  until  we 
have  examined  some  other  points. 

It  is  said  by  some  that  the  only  reason  why  the  lot  of 
the  English  laborer  is  so  different  from  that  of  the  Ameri- 
can is  the  abundance  of  uncultivated  land  in  America 
waiting  for  the  industry  of  man  to  improve  it.  But  there 
are  large  tracts  of  land  in  England  where  the  soil  is  good, 
but  they  are  devoted  to  nothing  but  sheep-walks  and 
pleasure-grounds.  Aside  from  fens  and  rough  hills,  these 
are  found  all  over  England  and  Scotland. 

The  men  that  we  call  farmers — the  yeomanry  of  Eng- 
land— have  disappeared.  The  English  farmer  is  not  the 
owner  of  land,  nor  does  he  do  any  farm-work.  He  is  not 
a laborer.  He  does  not  belong'  to  the  laboring  classes. 
He  often  knows  nothing  about  farming.  He  is  a capital- 
ist. He  rents  land  according  to  his  means,  and  sublets  it 
in  small  patches  \to  tenants.  Or  if  he  has  a practical  or 
theoretical  knowledge,  he  cultivates'  his  rented  f^rms  by 
hiring  farm-laborers.  The  farm-worker — the  tiller  of  the 
soil — is  never  the  owner  of  the  soil  in  England.  The  old 
English  “yeomanry”  have  disappeared.  This  sad  process 
of  degradation  is  nearly  complete. 

Now,  this  is  the  population  that  we  have  to  inquire 
about.  It  is  not  the  capitalist,  but  the  laborer,  whose  con- 
dition we  wish  to  know.  The  latter — the  laborers — out- 
number the  former  a hundredfold.  If  the  capitalist  alone 
prospers  and  the  laborer  is  uniformly  wretched,  the  sys- 
tem under  which  they  are  working  out  the  problem  of 
life  cannot  be  a good  one. 

Now,  what  are  the  wages  of  a farm-laborer  when  he  can 
get  work?  Fawcett  tells  us  «from  12  to  15  shillings  a 
week — that  is,  from  50  to  62J  cents  a day.  Out  of  this  he 
must  provide  for  himself  and  his  family ! And  this  not 
only  during  the  seven  days  of  the  week,  but  during  all 
the  time  he  is  out  of  work.  His  income  for  the  year  can- 
not average  40  cents  a day,  out  of  which  he  must  pay 


8 


rent,  fuel,  food,  and  clothing  for  himself  and  family.  If 
the  family  consists  of  six  persons,  the  wages  of  the  hard- 
working father  will  furnish  six  to  eight  cents  a day,  ac- 
cording to  the  times,  for  each  individual,  for  all  the  wants 
of  life,  for  necessities  and  luxuries.  Every  young  man  in 
America  who  smokes  a ten-cent  cigar,  or  its  equivalent  in 
viler  stuff,  smokes  away  an  English  laborer’s  life  and  one 
half  of  his  wife’s,  as  their  life  now  is,  under  the  meridian 
sun  of  Free  Trade,  after  a forty  years’  trial.  An  earnest 
advocate  of  Free  Trade  who  has  just  returned  from  Eng. 
land,  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  admits  that  the  end  of  the  farm, 
laborer  in  England  is  generally  the  workhouse.  (See 
Christian  Union,  March  30,  page  296.) 

No  wonder  Prof.  Fawcett  continually  berates  marriage 
as  the  supreme  curse  and  folly  of  the  British  workmen. 
He  drags  it  in  on  every  occasion  in  his  work  on  “ Politi- 
cal Economy.”  It  is  his  bete  noir  of  prosperous  times. 
So  soon  as  the  workmen  can  get  enough  to  live  upon 
they  will  marry  and  multiply,  and  bring  back  distress. 
The  blessing  of  God  on  the  first  pair  in  Eden  is  the  chief 
and  all-ruinous  curse  of  Free  Trade  in  England.  This 
fatal  and  foolish  increase  of  population  haunts  him  con- 
tinually. He  would  evidently  like  to  have  a new  com- 
mandment in  the  decalogue,  “ Thou  shalt  not  marry,”  and 
have  it  put  directly  upon  the  conscience  of  the  British 
workmen.  The  decalogue  may  possibly  stand  as  it  is,  but 
Mr.  Fawcett’s  anxiety  is  quite  amusing. 

Another  relief  measure  proposed  by  Mr.  Fawcett  is 
much  more  reasonable.  It  is  that  woman  should  take  her 
place  in  the  field  among  the  workmen  as  a farm-laborer. 
Under  the  painful  and  degrading  conditions  of  her  pres- 
ent life,  I think  he  is  right  in  his  advice. 

It  is  better  for  her  to  work  in  the  field  than  to  starve  at 
home  in  a wretched,  damp  hut,  or  to  solace  herself  upon 
a stupefying  mug  of  beer,  if  she  can  beg  one.  I have  a 
strong  impression  that  to  some  extent  she  is  coming  into 
that  mode  of  relieving  the  gloom  of  her  existence.  I have 
met  on  the  road,  in  rural  districts,  squads  of  men  and 


9 


women  seeking  farm-work — young  men  and  young  bare- 
footed women  asking  leave  to  toil. 

There  had  been  a long,  long  rain,  and  no  harvesting 
had  begun.  They  wanted  a shilling  to  buy  some  beer. 
One  young  woman  had  a pair  of  shoes  in  her  hand,  and 
she  was  evidently  proud  of  the  possession,  and  keeping  it 
choice  for  some  great  occasion.  They  did  not  want  “ out- 
door relief,”  they  wanted  work,  and  they  probably  found 
it — in  the  workhouse.  They  had  passed  by  spacious  fields 
of  uncultivated  ground  ; and,  in  this  case,  the  women  who 
were  ready  for  field-work  could  not  obtain  the  boon  they 
sought.  They  affirmed  they  had  had  no  work  for  two 
weeks.  They  had  probably  lived  on  beer  and  bread,  by 
begging,  but  especially  on  beer.  They  had  the  aspect  of 
utter  discouragement  and  stupidity.  I have  seen  the 
peasantry  of  many  countries,  but  I know  of  none  so  far 
depressed,  so  low,  as  the  farm-laborers  of  England.  The 
peasantry  of  Turkey,  even,  have  more  of  the  ordinary 
comforts  of  life.  The  future  will  prove  whether  Free 
Trade  can  reduce  them  to  the  English  level.  This  condi- 
tion of  agriculture  in  England  after  so  long  a trial  of  Free 
Trade  is  a very  instructive  fact. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  this  picture  is  overdrawn. 
On  the  contrary,  the  half  is  not  told.  I have  seen  such 
abject  poverty  upon  a Christian  nobleman’s  estate  as  can 
have  no  parallel  in  this  country.  The  great  Scotch  mis- 
sionary, Alexander  Duff,  had  been  there  before  me,  and 
he  poured  out  the  vials  of  indignation  upon  the  head  of 
the  nobleman  in  view  of  such  contrasted  wealth  and  pov- 
erty. The  nobleman  replied,  “My  dear  sir,  I rent  my 
lands  in  mass.  I have  no  more  to  do  with  the  pay  or  the 
treatment  of  the  laborers  than  I have  with  those  on  the 
estates  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury.  I cannot  touch  this 
mass  of  England’s  poverty.” 

I made  no  remark  upon  what  I saw,  but  could  not  for- 
bear asking  some  questions.  Prof.  Fawcett  shall  here  be 
our  witness,  and  he  will  describe  what  I have  seen.  He 
testifies  as  follows : 


10 


“ There  are  few  classes  of  workmen  who  in  many  re- 
spects are  so  thoroughly  wretched  as  the  English  agricul- 
tural laborers.  They  are  in  many  respects  so  miserably 
poor  that  if  they  were  converted  into  slaves  to-morrow  it 
would  be  for  the  interest  of  their  owners  to  feed  them  far 
better  than  they  are  fed  at  present.  . . . Such  wages  (12 
shillings  a week)  would  not  permit  the  slightest  provision 
to  be  made  either  for  sickness  or  the  feebleness  of  old  age. 
Throughout  large  agricultural  districts  not  a single  agri- 
cultural laborer  will  be  found  who  has  saved  so  much  as  a 
week’s  wages.  A life  of  toiling  and  incessant  industry 
offers  no  other  prospect  than  a miserable  old  age.  Their 
ignorance  is  as  complete  as  it  is  distressing.”  (Fawcett’s 
“Political  Economy,”  5th  ed.,  pp.  192,  193.) 

A note  to  the  above  claims  that  there  is  now  some  im- 
provement in  their  condition,  but  they  have  not  yet 
reached  the  physical  comforts  of  life  or  the  level  of  the 
Turkish  slaves  that  have  fallen  under  my  personal  obser- 
vation. 

But  who  are  the  English  emigrants  that  in  yearly  in- 
creasing numbers  flee  from  Free  Trade  England  to  Pro- 
tective America?  They  are  not  chiefly  men  seeking  land. 
The  farm-laborers  are  incapable,  mentally  and  financially, 
of  taking  such  a start  in  life  unless  they  are  sent  over  as 
paupers.  The  emigrants  are  mostly  mechanics  seeking 
work.  They  will  become  land-owners  by  and  by.  They 
leave  a land  of  Free  Trade  and  seek  a land  where  labor  is 
protected,  and  where,  in  spite  of  Mr.  Fawcett,  he  can 
have  and  support  a family. 

According  to  Prof.  Fawcett,  in  England  the  laborer 
can  live  only  by  dehumanizing  himself.  If  he  should  get 
fair  wages  for  a little  while  he  will  marry.  He  cannot 
support  a family,  and  thus  he  brings  upon  himself  and 
others  the  greatest  misery.  The  logical  outcome  of 
his  political  philosophy  and  economy  is  that  the  males 
should  become  eunuchs  and  the  women  should  work  in 
the  fields.  This  is  the  only  safe  constitution  of  society 
for  Free  Trade.  Is  it  a constitution  or  a destruction?  If 


II 


carried  out  it  would  certainly  result  in  a sufficient  paucity 
of  laborers  to  make  wages  decidedly  high. 

Let  us  now  examine  another  point.  What  have  been 
the  actual  historical  results  of  the  introduction  of  Free 
Trade  into  communities  that  had  lived  under  Protection? 
Have  those  communities  reaped  substantial  benefits  from 
the  change  ? 

This  inquiry  cannot  be  set  aside  as  of  no  importance. 
The  Free  Trader  stands  upon  his  principles,  and  says  he 
takes  no  interest  in  their  application.  The  principles  are 
self-evidently  true,  and  that  is  all  he  has  to  do  with  them ! 

This  may  ail  be  very  nice  in  the  college  lecture-room, 
but  it  will  not  satisfy  practical  men.  If  elsewhere,  as  in 
England,  these  principles  work  to  impoverish  the  laborer 
and  to  benefit  only  the  very  few,  nothing  can  save  them 
from  condemnation. 

Every  reader  will  think  at  once  of  France.  Cobden, 
the  great  apostle  of  Free  Trade,  persuaded  Louis  Napo- 
leon to  adopt  the  Free  Trade  policy  for  a definite  number 
of  years. 

The  time  expired.  Did  F^rince  make  haste  to  renew 
the  treaty?  No.  The  French  mind  is  so  unphilosophical 
that  not  even  experience  can  teach  it  the  blessings  of  Free 
Trade.  France  refuses  to  renew  the  treaty!  The  Cob- 
den Club,  with  the  consummate  ability  of  men  of  the 
highest  rank,  talent,  experience,  and  diplomatic  skill,  has 
utterly  failed  in  its  missionary  work  in  France.  France 
has  made  the  experiment,  and  most  ungratefully  claims  to 
know  the  results  to  herself,  even  better  than  the  Cobden 
Club  knows  them.  Whatever  influence  France  has  in  sci- 
ence, philosophy,  and  government,  it  all  goes  against  the 
Club,  which  is  bent  upon  enlightening  the  two  great  and 
benighted  republics,  France  and  the  United  States ; but 
they  love  their  own  darkness  better  than  the  Cobden 
light. 

When  I went  to  Turkey  at  the  close  of  1838,  the  policy 
of  the  government — so  far  as  it  had  any  financial  policy — 
was  protective,  and  there  were  many  industries  moder- 


12 


ately  prosperous.  There  were  no  rich  manufacturers, 
but  the  numerous  workmen  in  their  small  workshops 
were  much  better  off  than  the  similar  class  in  England. 
In  one  quarter  of  Scutari  there  were  five  or  six  thousand 
weavers  of  cotton  goods  for  the  home  market.  Copper- 
smiths were  very  numerous  in  this  great  city.  The  na- 
tive cutlery,  carpenters’  tools,  horse-shoes,  donkey-shoes, 
stone-workers’  tools,  combs  for  the  empire,  chibouks  and 
narghileys  for  all  smokers,  amber  work,  oriental  boots, 
shoes,  embroidery,  and  many  other  domestic  arts,  em- 
ployed tens  of  thousands  of  industrious  workmen  in  the 
great  city  of  more  than  a million  of  inhabitants ; the  pro- 
ducts of  their  labor  went  to  all  parts  of  the  Marmora  and 
Black  seas,  and  to  the  Asiatic  and  African  ports  of  the 
Mediterranean.  England,  under  Cobden’s  inspiration, 
after  many  fruitless  efforts  introduced  Turkey  to  Free 
Trade.  All  the  industries  I have  mentioned,  and  many 
others,  disappeared,  or  were  reduced  to  insignificance 
with  astounding  rapidity.  The  cotton  stuffs  of  Scutari 
were  imitated  in  Manchester,  with  a nicer  look,  and 
poured  upon  the  astonished  people  at  less  than  half 
price.  Every  loom  in  Scutari  ceased  to  work.  The 
long,  narrow  buildings  where  they  worked  have  rot- 
ted down.  I had  occasion  in  1855  to  hire  one>  but 
it  was  too  much  decayed  to  be  easily  repaired,  and  rot 
and  rats  drove  me  out.  That  large  population  per-' 
ished  in  wretchedness  and  misery  extreme.  Fawcett’s 
favorite  remedy  of  checking  population  came  in  with  a 
vengeance.  There  was  no  need  of  forbidding  marriage. 
There  seems  to  be  a fatal  incapacity  in  the  uneducated 
oriental  to  change  his  employment.  But  he  can  suffer 
and  die  with  the  firmness  of  a martyr.  Enforced  idleness, 
rags,  squalor,  filth,  want  of  food,  prepare  the  way  for  all 
the  destructive  epidemics  of  the  East.  Malarial  fevers, 
cholera,  small-pox,  soon  disposed  of  these  despairing 
wrecks  of  humanity,  thrown  up  by  the  great  wave  of 
English  Free  Trade.  So  of  all  the  other  industries  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree.  This  change  has  taken  place  not 


13 


only  in  the  Turkish  ports,  but  the  disaster  extends  far 
into  the  interior.  Even  the  excellent  native  work  in 
cottons,  so  far  east  as  Darbekr,  on  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Tigris,  have  succumbed,  and  their  fast,  unfading 
colors  cannot  be  found.  Cheap,  gaudy,  sleazy  goods  have 
crowded  them  out,  at  half  their  price  and  a quarter  of 
their  durability. 

But  I will  mention  a single  industry  more  particularly 
as  an  example  of  the  whole.  In  1841  I visited  Brusa  for 
the  first  time.  Its  most  interesting  industry,  after  its  silk- 
works,  was  the  weaving  of  the  Brusa  bath-towels.  It 
was  a large  and  flourishing  industry,  supporting  thou- 
sands of  busy  hands.  Free  Trade  gave  Manchester  a 
chance  at  this  as  well  as  at  the  Scutari  works.  The  shag- 
towels  of  Brusa  came  pouring  into  Brusa  itself.  They 
were  not  durable  like  the  native  product,  but  this  was  not 
then  known.  They  were  sold  so  cheap  that  every  Brusa 
loom  had  to  stop.  After  the  industry  was  thoroughly 
killed  the  prices  of  towels  rose  again,  so  that,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  wear  that  was  in  them,  the  people  had  to  pay 
probably  all  of  25  per  cent  more  for  these  goods  than  for 
the  old  goods  of  native  make  before  Free  Trade  came  in. 
I mention  this  in  order  to  draw  attention  to  one  fact. 
The  motto  of  the  Cobden  Club  is  “ To  buy  cheap  and  sell 
dear.”  As  soon  as  they  have  crushed  an  industry  by  under- 
selling, the  market  is  in  their  hands.  The  workmen  being 
dispersed  and  the  industry  discredited,  it  cannot  readily 
rise  again.  The  prices,  however,  will  rise  to  that  point 
that  at  length  the  old  native  industry  will  take  courage 
and  start  anew,  to  be  crushed  again  and  blotted  out. 
When  I was  last  in  Brusa,  in  1873,  the  prices  of  the  Man- 
chester-Brusa  towels  were  so  high  that  a few  native 
looms  were  at  work  again  and  doing  a good  business, 
with  the  prospect  of  rapid  increase.  But  Free  Trade,  or 
rather  the  agents  of  the  Cobden  Club,  hold  their  fingers 
upon  the  pulse  of  the  victim,  and  as  soon  as  it  beats  with 
the  promise  of  life  the  torture  will  be  again  applied.  The 
prices  will  suddenly  fall  and  the  native  looms  will  stop. 


14 


The  cry  that  Free  Trade  will  produce  cheap  goods  is 
deceptive.  It  produces  violent  fluctuations,  and  the  cheap 
labor  of  England,  the  unrequited  toil  of  her  half-starving 
millions,  enables  her  to  destroy  almost  any  unprotected 
industry  in  foreign  lands. 

Now  if  all  this  benefited  the  working  classes  of  Eng- 
land, there  would  be  some  consolation  in  it.  The  labor- 
ing Turk  would  suffer,  but  the  laboring  Englishman 
would  be  benefited.  The  Turkish  or  Greek  workman 
might  not  think  it  his  duty  to  suffer  for  the  benefit  of  a 
foreigner.  He  might  strenuously  object  to  having  the 
bread  taken  from  his  children’s  mouths  and  given  to  a for- 
eigner’s. The  Free  Trader,  however,  might  reply  that 
on  the  whole  there  is  a gain,  and  the  gain  had  better  be  in 
England  than  anywhere  else.  But  in  relation  to  the  la- 
borers, the  real  producers,  even  this  reply  is  impossible. 
The  English  laborer  is  not  benefited.  Both  Fawcett  and 
Brassey  show’  conclusively  that  he  is  30  per  cent  worse 
oft  than  ever.  English  exports  in  1849  were  ^60,000,000 
— $300,000,000.  “They  now  considerably  exceed  ^300,- 
000,000  — $1,500,000,000  — per  annum”  (Fawcett,  Polit. 
Econ.,  p.  133).  In  the  amazing  profits  of  this  grand  ex- 
pansion of  industry  the  laborer  has  no  share.  His  lot  is 
harder  than  ever.  His  wages,  perhaps,  are  not  diminished, 
but  the  cost  of  living  has  increased  30  per  cent.  The  pur- 
chasing pow7er  of  his  wages  has  diminished  almost  one 
third.  No  wonder  he  emigrates  to  a land  w'here  labor  is 
protected.  English  policy  has  exhausted  and  ruined 
Turkey.  Those  wrho  ascribe  all  the  ruin  to  bad  govern- 
ment should  remember  that  Turkey  has  always  been 
badly  governed.  The  new  element  in  her  case  is  follow- 
ing English  advice  in  her  financial  policy  of  trade.  If  we 
go  to  Egypt  we  find  the  same  ruin  there,  until  recently, 
at  length,  a native  party  arose  to  throw  off,  if  it  could,  the 
yoke. 

The  great  English  colonies — Australia,  New  Zealand, 
the  Dominion — have  all  found  that  Free  Trade  was  inju- 
rious to  their  interests,  and  in  the  face  of  the  Cobden 


i5 


Club  have  adopted  more  or  less  of  a protective  policy. 
This  is  a very  significant  fact  and  extremely  dishearten- 
ing to  the  future  of  Free  Trade. 

But  Mr.  Fawcett,  the  great  political  economist  and 
Free  Trader,  makes  another  admission  worthy  of  the 
closest  consideration.  It  is  that  the  price  of  the  raw  ma- 
terial of  a manufactured  article  forms  only  a small  portion 
of  the  entire  value  of  the  finished  article  (p.  338).  He 
also  admits  that  a rise  in  the  price  of  the  raw  material 
produces  but  little  effect  upon  the  price  or  profits  of  the 
manufactured  article.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  pro- 
ducer of  the  raw  product  has  but  a very  small  share  in 
the  profits  of  manufactures.  He  must  remain  compara- 
tively poor  while  the  manufacturers,  not  the  workmen, 
acquire  enormous  wealth. 

We  will  take  as  an  illustration  the  great  woollen-works 
at  Saltaire,  England.  The  late  Sir  Titus  Salt  became  a 
titled  millionaire  from  the  ability  with  which  he  man- 
aged the  Cobden  principle  of  buying  cheap  the  raw  ma- 
terial and  selling  dear  the  manufactured  article.  Free 
Trade  enabled  him  to  destroy  a Turkish  industry  im- 
mensely to  his  own  advantage,  and  to  the  impoverish- 
ment and  misery  of  Armenians,  Greeks,  and  Turks. 

The  long,  silky,  beautiful  Angora  goat’s  hair  attracted 
his  attention,  and  he  invented  modes  of  working  it  alone 
and  with  other  material  so  that  he  could  undersell  the 
unprotected  native  products.  He  thus  became  for  a long 
time  almost  the  sole  purchaser.  His  manufactured  goods 
also  controlled  the  market  in  Turkey  and  obtained  an  im- 
mense sale  elsewhere.  His  agents  buy  the  raw  material 
in  Angora,  and  he  sends  back  most  beautiful  fabrics,  skil- 
fully adapted  to  the  oriental  taste.  I asked  one  of  his 
agents  what  one  pound  sterling  in  raw  material  produced 
in  the  finished  article.  He  replied,  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
pounds  sterling.  The  account  stood  thus:  Turkey  re- 
ceives from  Sir  Titus  £1  for  raw  material  and  pays  him 
£20  for  the  finished  article.  Balance  in  favor  of  England, 
£19.  Which  is  growing  rich — England  or  Turkey?  The 


1 6 


wealth  of  Sir  Titus  ten  years  ago  was  estimated  at  twen- 
ty-five to  thirty  millions.  But  his  workmen  have  no 
share  in  it,  though  he  may  be,  and  is,  an  exceptionally  be- 
nevolent master. 

England  has  contributed  chiefly  to  the  bankruptcy  of 
Turkey.  She  has  bound  her  hand  and  foot,  and  she  has 
neither  the  capital  nor  the  intelligence  to  extricate  her- 
self. Egypt  has  been  ruined  in  like  manner,  but  not  to 
the  same  degree  of  exhaustion. 

Turkey  has  lost  her  industries  and  become  simply  a 
raw  producer,  and  is  condemned  thereby  to  poverty  and 
servility.  The  manufacturing  country  will  carry  out  her 
programme  without  mercy,  will  buy  cheap  and  sell  dear, 
and  the  raw  producer,  writhe  as  he  may,  will  be  con- 
demned to  buy  dear  and  sell  cheap.  This  is  what  the 
Cobden  Club  hopes  to  see  the  United  States  inveigled 
into,  by  inciting  the  farmers  against  the  other  industries. 

The  hope  is  vain.  Our  tariff  needs  careful  revision. 
It  is  doubtless  in  some  things  absurd,  but  the  dream  of 
Free  Trade  with  the  United  States,  which  every  English 
millionaire  indulges  in,  is  such  stuff  as  other  dreams  are 
made  of.  The  United  States  are  under  no  obligations 
to  make  England  richer  than  she  is,  to  the  injury  of  the 
American  laborer,  especially  if  the  progress  of  things  is 
to  continue  on  the  line  of  the  last  fifty  years : the  English 
laborer  growing  poorer  and  the  great  capitalist  growing 
richer. 

But  there  is  another  question  besides  the  single  one  of 
the  Cobden  Club — the  accumulation  of  wealth — and  that 
is  the  distribution  both  of  wealth  and  of  industries.  Prac- 
tical men  will  always  regard  this  question  as  of  supreme 
importance.  The  nation,  like  the  family,  has  certain 
home  duties  that  are  imperative.  It  cannot  allow  a for- 
eign nation  to  crush  those  industries  that  are  necessary  to 
self-defence  in  time  of  war.  We  shall  manufacture  our 
own  ships  of  war,  our  own  naval  stores,  our  own  arms, 
our  own  powder — and  “ keep  the  powder  dry.”  The  mer- 
chant might  as  well  leave  his  safe  unlocked  as  a nation 


17 


leave  itself  without  means  of  defence.  The  Cobden  Club 
would  gladly  have  us  depend  on  England  for  all  these, 
while  she  would  kindly  “sell  dear  and  buy  cheap”  our  but- 
ter, cheese,  meat,  fruit,  grain,  and  cotton.  There  is  little 
probability  that  the  nation  will  ever  be  persuaded  to  do 
this. 

The  faith  of  the  Cobden  Club  in  its  power  to  change 
our  policy  shows  occasional  signs  of  weakening.  We  in- 
fer this  from  the  occasional  notes  of  warning  given  from 
this  country  by  the  correspondents  of  the  great  English 
newspapers.  The  “own  correspondents”  of  the  London 
Times  within  the  last  year  or  two  have  bemoaned  the  fad- 
ing hopes  of  Free  Trade  in  the  United  States. 

An  article  in  point  may  be  quoted  from  Blackwood's 
Magazine , found  also  in  the  March  number  of  the  Eclectic , 
on  “Finance  West  of  the  Atlantic.” 

The  following  extracts  state  the  subject  clearly  : “ Let 
us  first  deal  with  the  United  States.  It  is  useless  for  an 
observer  to  seek  to  disguise  from  himself  the  fact  that  the 
doctrine  of  Free  Trade  is  no  longer  what  is  called  ‘a  live 
issue’  in  the  slang  of  American  politics.  As  late  as  ten 
years  ago,  when  the  writer  of  this  article  was  first  in  the 
United  States,  the  Free  Traders,  though  in  a hopeless 
minority,  still  existed  as  a party ; but  the  hard  times  from 
1873  to  1878  killed  them.”  . . . “The  Free  Trade  party 
has  lost  both  its  political  and  real  advantages — the  latter, 
at  all  events,  permanently.”  . . . “ What  probability  or 
chance  is  there,  then,  of  such  a Free  Trade  movement  as 
convulsed  England  a generation  or  two  ago  ? In  America 
the  workingman  has  just  passed  from  a cycle  of  bad  into 
a season  of  good  years — i.e.,  good  wages,  good  and  cheap 
food,  lodging,  and  education — due,  he  is  told,  to  a protec- 
tive policy.  Prominent  Democrats  and  Free  Traders  ad- 
mit that  one  of  the  main  causes  of  General  Garfield’s  vic- 
tory over  General  Hancock,  at  the  last  Presidential  elec- 
tion, was  the  adoption  of  a plank  savoring  of  Free  Trade 
in  the  latter’s  political  platform ; and  the  significance  of 
the  fact  that  the  phrase  ‘Tariff  Reform’  has  taken  the 


i8 


place  of  ‘.Free  Trade’  in  Democratic  electioneering 
speeches  must  not  be  overlooked.” 

Much  more  to  the  same  effect  might  be  quoted,  but  the 
above  is  enough  for  our  purpose.  The  same  writer  draws 
attention  to  the  fact  that  Canada  also  has  adopted  a Pro- 
tective policy,  which  is  “ the  most  unkindest  cut  of  all  ” 
to  the  Free  Trade  theory. 

It  should  always  be  kept  in  mind  that  there  is  great 
danger  of  exaggeration  in  a Protective  policy.  Every 
powerful  industry  will  exaggerate  its  claims.  If  the  Free 
Trade  “ doctrinaires,”  though  perhaps  never  destined  to 
rise  to  the  dignity  of  a party,  can  nevertheless  do  some- 
thing toward  moderating  the  excesses  of  Protection,  they 
will  not  labor  in  vain  nor  spend  their  strength  for  naught. 
The  theory  of  Free  Trade  shows  beautifully  in  the  lecture- 
room,  where  all  comment  and  awkward  questions  can  be 
avoided  ; but  practical  men,  farmers  and  mechanics,  North 
and  South,  East  and  West,  grow  more  and  more  disposed 
to  distrust  its  application  to  this  country. 

There  are  certain  contradictions  of  method  in  the  ad- 
vocacy of  Free  Trade  well  worthy  of  notice.  One 
method  is  to  ignore  facts,  to  claim  that  Free  Trade  prin- 
ciples are  self-evident  scientific  truths,  and  if  facts  do  not 
agree  with  them  so  much  the  worse  for  the  facts ! This 
method  ignores  also  national  interest.  The  simple  fact 
of  accumulation,  no  matter  where,  by  whom,  by  what  na- 
tion or  people,  fills  the  whole  field  of  view.  It  is  nothing 
worth  a thought  if  Free  Trade  makes  England  rich  and 
America  poor,  if  only  more  wealth  be  produced.  It  is 
nothing  to  them  that  the  English  laborer  grows  poorer 
and  poorer,  and  by  the  statements  of  the  most  eminent 
Free  Traders  has  fallen  behind  30  per  cent  in  30  years. 
It  is  enough  that  vast  fortunes  have  been  made,  never 
dreamed  of  before.  Mammon  is  a god  that  must  be  wor- 
shipped to  the  sacrifice  of  reason  and  patriotism. 

The  other  method  is  the  direct  opposite.  It  may  be 
called  the  gorgeous  method.  It  rushes  into  statistics  be- 
wilderingly.  It  demonstrates  the  whole  world  to  be 


l9 


fools,  England  only  excepted.  It  is  like  Leviathan.  It 
makes  the  ocean  of  statistics  to  boil  like  a pot.  Years  ago 
the  Cobden  Club  issued  an  appeal  to  American  farmers, 
and  spread  it  over  all  the  West.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  mil- 
lions of  copies  were  distributed.  It  went  up  over  all  the 
land,  and  helped  the  farmers  light  their  fires.  Its  aim 
was  to  stir  them  up  to  revolution  by  showing  them  that 
every  farmer  consumed  $200  worth  of  manufactured 
goods  every  year  ! If  there  are  5,000,000  of  farmers,  this 
would  make  $1,000,000,000  of  manufactured  goods  annual- 
ly. English  greed,  not  stopping  to  inquire  into  the  absurd- 
ity of  such  a statement,  set  its  eyes  upon  that  one  billion  of 
dollars  annually.  Out  of  pure  benevolent  regard  to  the 
American  farmer,  with  whose  hard  lot  it  deeply  sympa- 
thized, it  would  be  willing  “ to  sell  dear  and  buy  cheap’' 
in  order  to  furnish  the  vast  supply,  dismiss  all  the  Ameri- 
can mechanics  to  farming,  and  thus  overstock  the  grain 
market  to  the  delight  of  England  and  the  Cobden  Club. 
All  this  is  put  forward  with  charming  innocence,  not 
dreaming  that  any  one  will  ask  questions.  How  many 
dollars  can  the  English  farm-laborer  spend  for  manufac- 
tured goods?  Can  he  spend  one  fourth  or  even  one 
eighth  of  that  sum  on  an  average  ? Surely  it  is  a blessed 
land  where  the  farmers  can  indulge  their  taste  and  secure 
comfort  at  that  rate ! The  American  farmer  read,  and 
laughed  at,  and  burned  the  pamphlet.  But  still  others 
followed, and  do  follow,  in  the  same  strain. 

Added  to  the  gorgeous  statistics  is  the  vituperative 
method.  I have  before  me  some  Free  Trade  writings — 
not  Prof.  Perry’s — in  which  I find  the  terms  “slaves,” 
“ fools,”  “ lobbyists,”  “ log-rollers,”  “humbug,”  “atrocious 
oppression,”  A bribery,”  “outrageous  fraud,”  “licensed 
pillage,”  “ enormity  of  outrage,”  and  so  on  ad  nauseam . 
Those  who  allow  themselves  to  condescend  to  such  lan- 
guage are  either  conscious  of  a weak  cause  or  intent  upon 
stirring  up  malignant  feelings. 

There  is  also  a singular  vein  of  self-refutation  in  much 
of  the  Free  Trade  reasoning,  except  it  be  regarded  from 


20 


an  exclusively  English  view.  They  point  us  to  the  greater 
wealth  of  the  manufacturing  over  the  farming  States. 
The  great  English  Free  Trade  teacher,  Fawcett,  clearly 
shows,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  raw  product  is  but  a 
small  part  of  the  value  of  the  finished  article.  The  logi- 
cal inference  is  that  the  farming  States  should  be  also 
manufacturing  States.  Variety  of  industries  is  a princi- 
ple in  all  political  economy.  But  instead  of  that  the  Free 
Trader  shouts  “Freedom!”  Let  all  the  mechanical  in- 
dustries that  can’t  live  here  go  to  England.  Now  that 
would  be  excellent  for  England.  Her  labor  being  25  to 
50  per  cent  cheaper  than  ours,  she  would  have  all  that 
advantage  against  our  mechanics.  We  should,  perforce, 
become  raw  producers.  As  .England’s  demand  for  bread- 
stuffs  is  both  a limited ^Wnefy  and  a variable,  her  good 
years  demanding  a small  supply,  where  would  our  exces- 
sive production  of  grain  find  a market?  England  would 
then,  indeed  “ buy  cheap,”  but  where  could  our  farmers 
“sell  dear”?  Not  only  would  they  find  the  English  mar- 
ket limited,  but  they  must  meet  the  concentrated  competi- 
tion of  the  black  lands  of  the  Azoff,  of  the  Crimea,  South 
Russia,  Rumania,  Servia,  Bulgaria,  and  the  Dobrudscha; 
all  of  these  lands  being  as  rich  as  the  very  richest  lands  of 
the  West. 

English  foresight  is  pouring  into  all  these  regions  amaz- 
ing quantities  of  the  most  improved  agricultural  imple- 
ments, many  of  them  our  own  inventions.  A few  years 
since  I entered  a vast  magazine,  apparently  designed  for 
government  stores,  in  the  city  of  Galatz,  Rumania.  1 was 
filled  with  amazement  at  the  piles  of  ploughs,  cultivators, 
reapers,  mowers,  threshing-machines,  winnowers,  tedders, 
harrows,  etc.,  etc.  I asked,  in  astonishment,  if  those  arti- 
cles found  a ready  sale.  The  agent  assured  me  that  the 
sale  was  increasing.  The  people  were  slowly  learning  to 
use  them ; broken  pieces  were  so  easily  replaced  that 
they  were  acquiring  confidence,  and  that  some  large 
farms  had  doubled  their  harvests  without  increase  of  ex- 
penditure. Unless  bloody  revolutions  shall  prevent,  this 


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century  will  not  close  before  our  farmers  will  find  a most 
powerful  competitor  in  the  grain  markets  of  the  world. 
The  Western  farmer  understands  this.  He  prefers  diver- 
sified industries  at  home  to  make  his  market  secure  and  at 
hand.  Otherwise  he  will  be  exposed  to  powerful  fluctua- 
tions and  competitions.  But  the  Free  Trader,  with  a 
sweet  innocence,  asks  him  to  shut  his  eyes  to  all  this  with 
the  deceptive  hope  of  getting  a cheaper  coat  and  cheaper 
shoes!  The  Free  Trader  asks  the  farmer  to  let  England 
perform  upon  us  the  same  operation  which  she  has  per- 
formed upon  Turkey,  Egypt,  Japan,  India,  but  which  she 
cannot  perform  upon  France,  Germany,  this  country,  or 
even  upon  her  own  colonies ! On  the  whole,  we  feel  dis- 
posed to  pardon  to  the  Free  Trader  his  spirit  of  vitupera- 
tion. If  that  is  all  the  comfort  he  has,  it  would  be  cruel 
to  take  it  from  him. 


NEW  YORK  ASSOCIATION 


FOR  THE 


Protection  of  American  Industry. 


At  the  great  Mass  Meeting  at  Cooper  Institute 
February  ist,  1883,  under  the  auspices  of  the  asso- 
ciation the  following  resolution  was  adopted,  to 
which  the  attention  of  all  friends  of  the  cause  of 
Protection  to  American  Industry  is  earnestly  invited  : 

Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  activity  of  the  friends  of 
British  policy  in  forming  free-trade  organizations,  we  recom- 
mend that  organizations  of  the  character  of  this  for  the  Protec- 
tion of  American  Industry  and  Labor  be  formed  in  all  the 
cities  and  towns  of  the  Union,  and  that  we  proffer  to  them  in 
advance  our  warmest  sympathy  and  earnest  co-operation. 

Correspondence  upon  all  matters  connected  with 
the  business  of  the  Association  should  be  addressed 
to 

GEORGE  B.  BUTLER, 

Secretary  N.  Y.  Association  for  the  Protection  of  American  Industry, 
No.  44  EAST  26th  STREET, 

New  York  City. 


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